title: Long-term survival after intensive care unit discharge in Thailand: a retrospective study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Economic evaluations of interventions in the hospital setting often rely on the estimated long-term impact on patient survival. Estimates of mortality rates and long-term outcomes among patients discharged alive from the intensive care unit (ICU) are lacking from lower- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to assess the long-term survival and life expectancy (LE) amongst post-ICU patients in Thailand, a middle-income country.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this retrospective cohort study, data from a regional tertiary hospital in northeast Thailand and the regional death registry were linked and used to assess patient survival time after ICU discharge. Adult ICU patients aged at least 15 years who had been discharged alive from an ICU between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2005 were included in the study, and the death registry was used to determine deaths occurring in this cohort up to 31st December 2010. These data were used in conjunction with standard mortality life tables to estimate annual mortality and life expectancy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This analysis included 10,321 ICU patients. During ICU admission, 3,251 patients (31.5%) died. Of 7,070 patients discharged alive, 2,527 (35.7%) were known to have died within the five-year follow-up period, a mortality rate 2.5 times higher than that in the Thai general population (age and sex matched). The mean LE was estimated as 18.3 years compared with 25.2 years in the general population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Post-ICU patients experienced much higher rates of mortality than members of the general population over the five-year follow-up period, particularly in the first year after discharge. Further work assessing Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) in both post-ICU patients and in the general population in developing countries is needed.
authors.forename: Nantasit
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Luangasanatip
authors.forename: Maliwan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hongsuwan
authors.forename: Yoel
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lubell
authors.forename: Direk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Limmathurotsakul
authors.forename: Prapit
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Teparrukkul
authors.forename: Sirirat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chaowarat
authors.forename: Nicholas P J
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Day
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Graves
authors.forename: Ben S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Cooper
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D010351:Patient Discharge; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013785:Thailand / Q000453:epidemiology